Online retailers backpedal on 1000’s of lockdown discounts pre-Easter

New data released from LovetheSales.com has revealed that online retailers removed thousands of discounts on popular lockdown clothing in the lead up to Easter, including hoodies and joggers.

The data shows that from 25 March to 7 April, the number of discounts dropped by 17% week-on-week, compared to the same timeframe in 2019.

Exercise equipment, beauty and grooming and loungewear are the big winners in the new “Lockdown Economy”, with record levels of demand.

Price raising on in-demand products was also evident, with exercise equipment, loungewear and beauty and grooming products seeing the biggest shift.

Stuart McClure, co-founder of LovetheSales.com, said: “In a normal economy, we would expect to see price drops in the lead up to the Easter period on categories like exercise equipment, loungewear and grooming products.

“However, these are not ordinary times, and with consumers around the world on lockdown, exercise, loungewear and grooming products are wanted commodities.

As demand starts to ramp up online, retailers are removing thousands of discounts on products the public are after.”

During the timeframe 19-25 March, as lockdown started to come into effect, McClure said they noticed a huge drop in consumer demand, with people concentrating on home essentials. In response to that, retailers raised discounts, and the number of discounts were up +21% week-on-week and +40% year-on-year.

But going into the third week of lockdown, consumer demand started to come back again online, and retailers responded by taking away a lot of the initial discounts they put on in mid-March.

Online demand has also plummeted by -149% for high street brands, as shoppers switch to premium labels, such as Ralph Lauren, and luxury labels including Burberry and Gucci, with the biggest fall in demand for Topshop and River Island and product categories such as shoes, handbags, dresses and swimwear.

There could be a number of reasons for this, from consumers not being able to try high street fashion in store to premium labels putting out more appealing lockdown fashion.

In terms of tops versus bottoms on clothing, top half clothing categories such as T-shirts, formal shirts and jumpers are being searched for +132% more than bottom half clothing like trousers and shorts, as waist-up video conferencing becomes the norm for “at home” workers.

Other brand winners during the lockdown so far are UGG, Crocs and Calvin Klein, who have all seen the biggest surge in consumer traffic.

LovetheSales.com is a global marketplace for shopping discounts. The platform partners with more than 1,000 UK retailers, and will be releasing analysis data of further two weekly sales performances in the period ending 22 April 2020.